John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

Can the Opposition Members tell me, with their pockets full of flawed statistics, the answer to one question? How is it, amid all the doom and gloom they laid before us yesterday, that the Central Statistics Office announced this morning that Ireland is creating a net extra 1,300 jobs a week? Please explain.

As an economy we are where we should be: fighting for our share of the high-end markets of the world and promoting Ireland as a location for multinationals who also serve that market. We are doing so with vigour and confidence, using the experience gained at the boardroom tables of the world over many years by organisations such as Enterprise Ireland and the IDA. They have experience, ability and significant Government support. They are doing a good job. In my work I will support and assist the SME sector.

The State is more efficient in the use of funds. Major infrastructure developments are coming in on time and on budget. We have, and continue to attract, companies that need exceptional skills and are prepared to pay for them and we are producing top class companies of our own. We continue, at an increasingly fast and confident pace, to improve our transport and broadband infrastructure and our IT networks. We have some way to go, but we are getting there and we are more confident about and focused on what we are doing.

The Government recognises that Irish third-level educational qualifications should not just be common, but should also be universally recognised as hallmarks of academic excellence and, to this end, the Government continues to invest heavily in education. We should in some way seek to bring together Pythagoras and Picasso, the sciences and humanities, for the benefit of both, providing we do not dilute the primary degree. At a time of worldwide economic upheaval it is easy to forget this country has come far and fast and that Ireland continues to be a destination of choice for inward investment and a hotbed of local endeavour and enterprise. The Government will ensure this continues.

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